Saturday, December 12, 2015

Now that the Cross Country season is complete, it's time to look back and reflect on the accomplishments of all NorCal runners. Feel free to comment on what runners you feel belong on the All NorCal HS XC Teams for the 2015 season. Who are the NorCal runners of the year? Who are the best runners in each section (NS, NCS, SJS, OAK, SF and CCS)? Who are the best runners by grade? The team will be posted around Christmas time by Hank Lawson on his site at www.lynbrooksports.com. If you feel like you know the majority of runners in Northern California and would like to be a voter on the team, feel free to email Hank at hanklawtrack@gmail.com and let him know of your interest.

- Cate Ratliff, NorCal runner of the year, top senior and top CCS- Very close but Morgin Coonfield over Megan McCandless for top NCS- Sofia Castiglioni for top SJS and top junior (latter very close with Glennis Murphy)- Kristen Leung top SF- Mari Friedman over Marea Zlatunich for top sophomore- Cassy Haskell for top freshman

It should be as simple as using the STATE FINALS as most of the kids ran at least on the same day on the same course (this should be at least a GOOD GUIDE to go by since not everyone raced in all the same invites, leagues, sections, etc...)

Lots of ways to argue a 3 way tie for boys runner of year. Robison slow early start but came on huge second half of season when it counted and fastest time at Woodward and sub 15:00 at Crystal and solid toro park time. Cooper amzing marks 14:52 at Stanford, woodward and sub 14:50 at Mt Sac all solid courses and state champ, but never raced any one head on in NorCal that notable till footlocker (in same race). Vernaul always aggressive and great marks all season and good performances in some big races except Mt Sac. Verbal always put it on the line so will be curious to see how he performs at footlocker.

All 3 of these guys I thik were within 2 seconds but in different races at State. All in all should be interesting.

While a majority of runner's are done for the season, there is still one NorCal runner (Vernau) who will be competing at Footlocker Nationals. I will reserve my judgment for top Junior Norcal Boy's runner until after that race.

If Vernau goes top 25 at FL Nationals like Blake Hurlock or Trevor Reinhart (also a Junior), then he's a lock.

I would caution against using the state meet times only as the deciding factor. As stated on this blog numerous times, the teams are typically peaking for the sectional finals, especially in Norcal, so more emphasis should be put on sectional times with the state meet used to back it up. Also, kids are often asked by their coaches to do different things in the state meet as they go up against the SS powerhouses. This is especially true in D1 and 2 where much larger southern schools have greater depth. I think putting the emphasis on one meet over the accomplishments of an entire season is a bit shortsighted.

With the cards stacked in favor of the SS at the state meet (especially in the DI and DII), most teams have no hope of getting on the podium, let alone winning. That is why teams try to peak for the Norcal sectionals. You are correct that individuals, especially those few that are highly ranked, will try to peak for state but most of the support cast will kill themselves to try to win the section. That is why so many of the 2-5 kids on teams that challenge for the sectional win have a rough time at state.

@ 9:40 am - Post season success should be most heavily weighted than early season with State performance more important than Sectionals. The vast majority of top teams/individuals knew they were going to move on to State so sectionals was just for bragging rights and in many cases an opportunity to run through a meet. NXN/FL results are a bonus IMHO and only for use in comparing athletes too close to call based on State.

It's not a direct comparison since State results are over 5 divisions but NCAA All-American status is top 40 at the NCAA Championships. An athlete could have had a great season but if they didn't perform on the day then they were out of luck and vice versa.

@10:31 That might be true for the elite teams (Jesuit and Davis) but most teams have NO chance at state given the current bias toward the MUCH larger SS teams. Far from being gravy or for "bragging rights" most of the teams target sectionals as their chance to make a mark. Finishing first in the CCS or SJS is more important to them then scratching out a top 10 at state.

@ 10:41 AM No one's discounting the SoCal imbalance but you must be following only the boys. You really do a disservice to the NorCal girls teams and individuals who performed so well at State:

- Davis took 2nd at NXN and State in Div 1 (Monte Vista 5th)- Bella Vista took 2nd at State Div 2 (Granada 5th)- Aptos won State Div 3 (Campolindo 5th)- Santa Cruz took 2nd at State Div 4 (SLV 4th, Piedmont 5th)- SJND took 2nd at State Div 5 (Lick Wilmerding 4th, Branson 5th)- NorCal girls had 27 of the 50 top 10 podium finishes - Of the 41 girls running sub 18 at Woodward Park, 23 were from NorCal while only 18 were from SoCal

I'd say a vast majority of these teams/girls would say placement at State was a bigger deal than performance at sectionals....

Yes, my comments about sectionals and state were directed toward the boys. The NorCal girls did rock it this year and in the past. No disrespect was intended. However, the fact remains that the vast majority of boys teams do target the sections and then go down to Fresno to take their pounding. That is why sections should weigh a little heavier than state in my opinion. But no one race should factor more than an entire season. Just my thoughts on how to evaluate 15-18 year old boys.

Fiona O'Keeffe over Ratliff for Runner of the Year for sure. Not her fault she was injured...and have you forgotten about what she did while healthy?? She broke Julia Stamps' 19 year old record at De La Salle, and dominated the field at Stanford for the fastest time in the nation. Would Ratliff or anyone else have been able to finish 8th at the state meet despite being so injured and hardly training for more than a month? And even though her state meet race beat her up even more and she could barely hobble around afterwards, she STILL raced at NXN and was the difference between her team finishing second and fifth.

Again valid points here and as noted by most here the girls should be fairly straight forward (other than junior and sophomore runners of the year). The NORCAL girls kicked ass this year...thank you NXN for not giving us any at larges this year...that's a different topic. But as I've stated on my posted at 10:06pm last night, we should put a lot of weight at State since that's the only race that at least all the kids are on the same course on the same day...plus elite runners (or top of NorCals) which this is the category at hand should peak at State, not league or sections. Again, I say to use State Meet as a "guide", if it is close between runners then look deeper in the season.

Btw I don't understand the purpose of Anonymous 10:19am post. We are recommending either all NorCal teams, Section Runners of the year, NorCal runner of the year, or NorCal runner of the year by class. Not NorCal class all teams. Thank you Albert for starting this discussion. Good luck to all runners still in FL and great job for NorCal runners esp the girls!!!!

I totally agree about the elite boys who are upperclassmen, but the Frosh/Soph guys are typically in the 2-5 category and, again, will tend to be asked to peak (or at least kill themselves for the team) at section final. If we are doing grade-level picks, that distinction is important. Where is all my help on this? I have read this on the blog before and now there is nothing but silence. Must be that most people have other jobs?

C. Anderson, Colonna, and Ma were on the preseason top freshman list. They were the top 3 CCS freshman at State, all finishing in the top 11 freshman overall. Colonna was the top freshman at CCS at 15:46, with C. Anderson third 16:04, and Ma fifth 16:15. Colonna and Ma ran 5th and 7th respectively in the freshman Footlocker race last weekend. No doubt these three will be on the all freshman team. L. Anderson looks like he came out of nowhere with some slower early races but great times at NCS and the state meet 15:48, where he was the top freshman. He was not on the preseason list but will definitely be on the Norcal all freshman team.

As expected, some of the top preseason freshmen at Bell and other schools did not get a chance to run varsity this year. Regardless, with 4 of the top 11 freshmen at state coming from Norcal, the future is brighter for teams from the north.

I don't disagree with the thought that some teams focus on sections, that is not true of all. A couple of top runners from top teams pretty much trained through sections in the hopes of doing well at state and even earning a berth at NXN. For All-section teams, where they are running on the same course on the same day, I put a lot of weight on those races, but for all NorCal, you sometimes need to look a little deeper. A good problem to have that we had so many impressive individual and team performances in Northern California this year. A ton of these great athletes are back next year too.

I agree with the last comment. Go to Mile Split to get a good break down on who is who. Anyone can have a good race any given day, but Mile Split actually looks at comparable races, USATF certified courses to form your list. College coaches will look to see for consistency across the season on certified courses instead of a runner who had a lucky race on the right day. Too many comments are based on personal observations, I look at the stats. A lot of these kids are not consistent and race on courses that are not USATF certified, I notice a lot of "3 mile" and "2 mile" races in the Coastal region and the times do not match when they actually race a legit course. Using state or Footlocker is not the end all to make your list, Haskell was second at state and 67th with a 19:51 (ouch), can't say inexperience, she chocked at every Junior Olympics as well. I realize most kids train for State as their peak but everyone else had a good race. No consistency with her. I could list more but yet again this website is made to boost Bay Area runners only, so whatever.

You are a very spiteful, little person. Why all the hate towards Haskell? You really need to get a life.

Plus you obviously know very little about the sport based on ignorant comments about USATF certified courses and what colleges look for. As Anonymous @ 5:55 pm stated, there are no certified USATF cross country courses. As for college coaches, track times matter and for cross country the post season (State) is what counts, especially at courses, like Woodward Park, where they can compare results across races on the day and over the years.

As for Haskell's performance as a freshman, you can't get more consistent than:

The most important races in the season are at the end of the season and based on league, section and state, Haskell was the best frosh in NorCal this past season. Granted, Perez did beat Haskell at the Footlocker West race but a near 2 second margin in the last race of the season does not make up for all of Haskell's accomplishments prior to that race.

Is it any wonder why St Joesephs has so many detractors on this site when there are ridiculous fan boy/girl posts like Anonymous @ 11:49 AM? Perez had a very good freshman season but she was no where close to being the NorCal frosh of the year. 4 freshman ran faster than her at NCS and 2 at State.

The SJND posters are doing a huge disservice to their athletes. Let the accomplishments stand on their own and stop rushing to post results from every race. If the results are good, they will get noticed on their own. Posts like the above just continue to hurt your athletes.